Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Awesome Encinitas Shopping Center Pixel Art

I was dropping my kid off at her school and happened to notice a wonderful piece of art in the most unlikely of places, a typical Encinitas strip shopping center.  These types of little, hidden secrets are a joy to discover.  This particular one is on the window of the Suyaki Teppanyaki/Sushi restaurant in the LA Fitness/Ricos Taco Shop shopping center.  Created from Post-It Notes, Suyaki has put up this art to garner suggestions for new menu items, but also to allow those that see it to put up their personal wishes.  It's a great way to do community engagement, and also to provide a little beautification and a few smiles in an unexpected place.  Scenes like this are what make Encinitas so great.



The Chargers Super Bowl wish was particularly sad as it's evidence that sometimes, wishes don't come true...

Monday, January 19, 2015

Encinitas Ranch Town Center Mystery

Our crack team of reporters discussed the ongoing mystery of what's going on at the Encinitas Ranch Town Center in the old Party City location.  We sent out our photographer to check out the scene.  We've also got a message into the leasing company hoping to divine some details on what's going on.



As you can see, this is not just your run of the mill interior construction.  This is a total demolition of the front facade signaling major construction about to be undertaken.  In most cases, a retail center like Encinitas Ranch Town Center would maintain a consistent facade, with construction for a new tenant being primarily interior only.  This is the first example of a total redo that I've seen in this center.  So what does this signal?  My hope is a new sit-down dining establishment, which New Encinitas has a glaring shortage of.  This shortage is especially true after the disappointing opening of the La Costa Town Square center which features nothing but quick service restaurants that were already available on the ECR corridor. 

We here at Encinitas Report will keep following this developing story.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Sheriff Enforcement Priorities and Gear Grinding Garden State Bagels

As most residents know, Encinitas chooses to contract with the San Diego Sheriff's Department to provide law enforcement services.  Within that contract, specific manning is specified, meaning that the number of personnel serving Encinitas is limited.  When they are dealing with one issue, they are unable to then deal with other issues due to limited officers on call at any one time.  Obviously, Encinitas isn't a criminal hotbed, but sometimes it's hilarious to see what local law enforcement considers essential duties.


Here's Officer Smokey staying hidden and lying in wait for red light and cell phone violations.  While I was at the street corner, he busted someone for talking on their phone while stopped.  The hilarious part is that this is just outside of the shopping center that houses Garden State Bagels, who of course has a long history of gear grinding the Sheriffs for using their center for traffic enforcement.  I guess this is the Sheriffs gear grinding him back. 

Meanwhile, neighborhoods in New Encinitas have been told there is not enough manning to provide any kind of speed enforcement in neighborhoods where kids are playing, nor do they seem willing and able to stop periodic strings of vehicle break-ins (like the recent one noted on NextDoor on Orchard Wood Dr. in the Bridgewater neighborhood).  Priorities, though, AMIRITE?!?!